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M. PETERS PROCESS AND APPARATu FOR THE MANiJFAcTURz 0F METAL April 12, 1932.

s s a R w m E w n O r 6 R r E m M p m S V S A w u N A m m w M A m w Y 7 n% m 1 1 A M; k R R a Q a M m m M I I I I PH" l l lH H b hhL IL. u I IN L I I I M l l l l l N H H U IITL m f a? k Bum H N Mg m o Reissued Apr. 12, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE- MATHIAS PETERS, OF DUISIBURG, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR TO VI'ELLIMAN SEAVER ROLLING MILL COMPANY, LTD., OF LONDON, ENGLAND PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF METAL TUBES AND OTHER TUBULAR ARTICLES Original 110. 1,720,845, dated July 9, 1929, Serial No. 755,704, filed December 18, .1924, and in Great Britain January 26, 1924. Application for reissue filed October 19, 1931. Serial No. 569,814.

This invention has for its object to efiect, on apparatus of the push-bench type, the manufacture of metal tubes, or other tubular articles, in a more eflicient, expeditious and economical manner than hitherto and of sound quality and also, when so desired, thinner than has hitherto been practicable on apparatus .of the said type as hitherto arranged.

The tubes, or other tubular articles, which are to be made in accordance with this invention (and which forbrevity I will refer to as tubes) are made from round, square, or other through passes between rolls, which orifices,

pairs of truing, or finishing, rolls.

or passes, decrease successively in cross-sectional area in a forward direction, so that the said billet is reduced in thickness and spread out lengthwise along the mandrel until the said billet has been broughtto, or approximately to, the form of a tube of the required thinness and length and this tube, whilst still upon, the mandrel, is passed between planishing, or polishing, and reeling, rolls which planish, or polish, and equalize the thickness of, the tube and somewhat further spread the metal of the said tube sufliciently to loosen its hold upon the mandrel.

Then the mandrel, still with the tube uponjt,

is brought into'line with means by which the mandrel is withdrawn from the tube, which withdrawal can be effected, for example, by any known, or suitable, device which will draw the said mandrel from the tube through an orifice, or passage, in a plate, or abutment, brought into position for the purpose the tube being prevented from following the mandrel,

by the end of the said tube bearing against the said plate, or abutment. Afterwards-if so desired, the tube can be passed between When tubes open at both ends are required the closed end will, of course, be removedin any suitable way, the said end being however retained if, for any purpose, a tube-closed at one'end be require If desired, the tubes, or tubular articles, can be reheated and further treated as may be necessary to further adapt them for any particular purpose for which they are to be used.

In order that the manner in which this invention may be performed may be well understood I will describe, with reference to the accompanying drawing, an arrangement for making metal tubes and comprising means in accordance with this invention, the said drawings representing, diagrammatically all that is necessary to make clear, with the aid of the following description, the general arrangement of a push-bench type of apparatus to which this invention has been applied. Only such of the constituents of the apparatus are shewn as are requisite to illustrate this invention. l

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic sectional view showing the tube drawing dies and the pusher for forcing the mandrel and tube through the dies; Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic view showing the planishing rolls in side elevation; Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic sectional view showing the device for removing the tube from the mandrel. P

Figures 1, 2 and 3 it will beunderstood succeed each other in the order of the successive operations effected by'the constituents indicated. The apparatus as a whole comprises the following constituents.

Any ordinary, or suitable, means, such as a hydraulic press, for forming the billet into the required cup-shape, oi hollow piece, of

suflicient thickness and any necessary means for conveying the shaped, or hollow, billet, from the hydraulic press to the pusher (whose forward end is indicated at A) where the said billet is placed on the forward end of the mandrel B'as shewn at b (see Figure 1). a r

The said pusher A then pushing the mandrel B, with the shaped billet thereon,

through any required number of orifices (indicated at c, 0 a, a) of diminishing diameter in a succession of die-plates G whereby the said billet is reduced in thickness and 5 ures 1 and 2).

Planishing, or polishing, and reeling, rolls E (see Figure 2).

Rollers F (see Figures :2 and 8) from which the mandrel 1 with the tube still upon it, are fed forward to Means G by which the mandrel is withdrawn from the tube the said means comprising gripping rolls-g, and rollers g for supporting the tube as the mandrel is withdrawn whilst the tube is prevented from following it by a die-plate which is, at the proper time, brought into position to act as an abutment for the end of the tube whilst allowing of the passage of the mandrel, the said die-plate being preferably made of hard steel, so that it will constitute a means of truing the mandrel and bringing it to proper size for re-use.

The remaining constituents of the plant, which it is unnecessary to illustrate, as they may be of any suitable kind, are t Means for conveying the mandrel back to receive another shaped billet and, if desired, a truing, or finishing device through which the tube is subsequently passed and means for conveying the tube to any required place.

In making tubes by means of the described apparatus, the heated billet is brought inthe hydraulic press, to the requisite shape, having a hole in it to fit the forward end of the mandrel B, which is inserted in the said hole, the rear end of the mandrel B being removably connected to the pusher the end of which is indicated at A in Figure 1.

The pusher moves the mandrel forward and; forces the shaped billet b'through the orifices c, 0 0 c in the series of die-plates C and, as these orifices decrease successively in cross-sectional area in a forward direction, the said rshapedrbillet b, is reduced in thickness and spread out lengthwise upon'the mandrel B and the said billet is brought to, or approximately to, the size of the required tube. The motion of the pusher is then re-- versed, leaving the mandrel which, with the tube 6 still thereon, is carried forward 'upon. the rollers D to the pla'nishing, or polishing and reeling rolls E (see Figure 2) betweenwhich the mandrel and tube pass, the said rells operating to planish, or polish, the tube and reel itand equalize its thickness whilst spreading the metal thereof sufficiently to liooslen the hold of the said tube upon the man- The operation of the rolls E is to loosen the tube on the mandrel leaving, however, the

\average thickness of the tube wall and the length of the tube blank substantially unchanged. Moreover, as is shown by tests the structure ofthe tube remains substantially unchanged despite the reeling or planishing operation, the tubes continuing to possess the desirable structure imparted by the vpush bench process of manufacture.

The said rolls-E, deliver the mandrel, with vthe now loosened tube 6 thereon, olito rollers F and thence the mandrel and tube proceed to the mandrel-withdrawing means G where the mandrel with the tube upon it is pushed between the gripping rolls 9, until the rear end of the tube b has passed them and then theend of the mandrel is gripped by the rolls 9 and, the abutment plate 9 having been put into position, the rolls G draw the mandrel back, the end of the said tube coming against the plate 9 and so being prevented from followingthe mandrel which is conveyed back to the position to receive another shaped billet b.

After the mandrel has been withdrawn from the tube the said tube can be forwarded to truing and finishing rolls if it be required to further act upon it. The said rolls, if used, are preferably set at right angles to each other.

In the following claims, the expression billet includes any piece of metal suited to the purposes of this invention and the expression tube? includes any tubular article which can be formed by the process and apparatus claimed.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is 1. As a step in the process of making metal tubes upon apparatus of the push-bench type;

after the mandrel and the tube formed upon it have passed through the reducing means,

then forcing it, whilst upon the forward end of a mandrel, through reducing means, until a tube is formed upon the mandrel from the said billet, then separating the mandrel from the device by which it was forced forward, conveying the said tube, whilst still upon the mandrel, forward and through rolls which planish, or polish, and reel the said tube and loose its hold on the mandrel and afterwards maintaining said tube stationary while the mandrel is withdrawn through rolls to straighten the same for further use all substantially as hereinbefore explained.

As a step in the process of making metal tubes or other tubular articles upon appara ms of the push bench type in which cupshaped billets are placed upon the forward end of a mandrel and are pushed through a series of orifices, so reducing the said billet in upon the mandrel, and subsequently withdrawing the mandrel from the said tube by means of rolls.

4. An apparatus for forming hollow tubing from cup-shaped billets comprising a mandrel adapted to support upon its end a hollow closed end billet, a plurality of reducing dies, means for forcing said mandrel with the billet thereon through said dies to produce a tube, means for withdrawing said last mentioned means, a plurality of reeling rolls, means for conveying said mandrel with the tube thereon through said reeling rolls, an abutment for the open end of said tube, and means for withdrawing the mandrel from the tube.

5. An apparatus for forming tubes from cup-shaped billets comprising a mandrel adapted to support a hollow closed end billet upon its end, a plurality of stationary dies, means for forcing said mandrel with the billet thereon through said dies to reduce the billet to a tube of desired finished size, means for withdrawing the last mentioned means, a plurality of reeling rolls, means for conveying said mandrel with the tube formed thereon through said reeling rolls, means adapted to engage the open end of said tube, and means for removing said mandrel'from the tube and at the same time straightening said mandrel for further use.

6. As a step in the process of making metal tubes upon apparatus of the push-bench type; after the mandrel and the tube formed upon it have passed through the reducing means, conveying the mandrel, with the said tube upon it, through rolls which polish, or

planish, it and loosen its hold upon the mandrel, while leavin the structure of the metal substantially unc anged, and, subsequently,

causing the open end of said tube to engage an abutment to thereby permit removing the mandrel from the said tube.

7. As a step in the process of making metal tubes or other tubular articles upon apparatus of the push bench type in which cupshaped billets are placed upon the forward end of a mandrel and "are pushed through a series of orifices, so reducing the said billet mandrel and the tube formed upon it have passed through the reducing means, the step of conveying the mandrel with-the said tube upon it through rolls which loosen its hold upon the mandrel while leaving the structure of the metal in the tube substantially unchanged, engaging a portion of the tube out of the path of the mandrel, and causing relative endwise movement between the mandrel and the tube for efl'ecting removal of passed through the reducing means, the step v of conveying the mandrel with the said tube upon it through rolls which planish it and loosen its hold upon the mandrel while leaving the average wall thickness and the length of the tube blank-substantially the'same, and subsequently separately engaging the tube and the mandrel and causing relative movement of the engaging means to thereby effect removal of the mandrel from the tube.

10. In the process of making metal tubes or other tubular articles upon apparatus of the push bench type in which cup-shaped billets are placed upon the forward end of a mandrel, which mandrel is engaged at its rearward end by a pusher and is bodily pushed through a series of orifices, thereby reducing the billet in thickness and spreading it out longitudinally along the mandrel,

in thickness and spreading it out longitudinally along the mandrel, conveying the mandrel with the billet or tube on it through rolls which polish or planish it and loosen its hold upon the mandrel while leaving the structure of the metal substantially unchanged, and

subsequently with-drawing the mandrel from the said tube by means of rolls.

8. In the process of making metal tubes in apparatus of the push bench type after the the steps consisting in disconnecting the mandrel with the formed tube thereon from the pusher, advancing the mandrel until it is clear of the said orifices, conveying the mahdrel with the tube on it through'rolls which planish it and loosen its hold upon the mandrel while leaving the average wall thickness of the tube and the length thereof substantially unaflected, and subsequently with- 1 drawing the mandrel from the tube.

In testimonv whereof I have hereunto set 11 MATHIAS PETERS. I

my hand. 0 

